Shloka 93

Devanagari script

काल प्राप्प महाबाहो न कश्िदतिवर्तते । “महाबाहो! मैं एक दिन ग्यारह अक्षौहिणी सेनाका स्वामी था; परंतु आज इस दशामें आ पड़ा हूँ। वास्तवमें कालको पाकर कोई उसका उल्लंघन नहीं कर सकता

Transliteration

kālaṃ prāpya mahābāho na kaścid ativartate |

Translation

サンジャヤは言った。「大いなる腕を持つ者よ、時（カーラ）が到来すれば、誰もそれを越えることはできぬ。かつて十一のアクシャウヒニー軍を統べた者でさえ、この境遇へと落とされうる。まことに、時の定めを犯す者はない。」

Word by Word

कालम्time, fate

प्राप्यhaving reached/obtained

महाबाहोO mighty-armed one

नnot

कश्चित्anyone, someone

अतिवर्ततेoversteps, transgresses

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Kāla (Time/Fate)

akṣauhiṇī (army unit; implied via the Hindi gloss)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches the inevitability of Kāla (Time/fate): when its moment arrives, no human power, status, or military strength can override it. It urges humility and recognition of limits within dharma and worldly ambition.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya, narrating the war’s grim outcome, underscores to his listener that catastrophic reversals—such as a former lord of vast armies falling into ruin—occur because Time has turned. The line frames the unfolding defeat as part of an inescapable cosmic order.